


The Boy In The Garden

by The General Phanchild (panicked_introvert)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Denial of Feelings, Detention, Eventual Romance, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gardens & Gardening, High School, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, Shyness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-04-29 15:20:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 15,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14475525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicked_introvert/pseuds/The%20General%20Phanchild
Summary: (Highschool AU) Dan Howell and Phil Lester had nothing in common. But when the two of them end up working together in the abandoned school garden, will friendship- or something more- develop between them?





	1. Plant Boy

"I can't believe this..." Dan grumbled to himself as he stormed down the hall, visibly pissed off. The dark-haired boy was stewing, and for a good reason. According to the vice principal, being out of school four days of the week was "violating the school's strictly enforced rules" (or something along those lines). So now he had detention for an entire hour, doing what Dan thought could be the worst punishment ever- gardening.

The school had a garden near the football field that Dan had never taken interest in, and in fact had never seen. He learned everything he needed to know about it from other students- it had started out somewhat nice, and had been maintained for about a month by some Girl Scout troop that kept migrating onto the school grounds. But after a while, the troop stopped showing up, and no one in the school bothered to maintain it. So as far as he knew, it was basically a patch of weeds and crabgrass that took up a third of the grass area in back of the school. Dan had no idea why they were making him deal with it- within a week the whole thing would be dead and wilted again.

Dan eventually reached the back door of the school that led out to the grassy area and saw that there was a note taped to the handle. Curious, he picked off the tape and examined the note. He instantly recognized the vice principal's loopy handwriting in thick black ink- _**Another student will be watching you while you serve your detention. Listen to what he says and take an example from him.**_

Dan promptly crumpled the note in his hand, letting out a quiet sigh of frustration before opening the door and walking out into the bright sun, squinting slightly. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he was surprised to see that the garden wasn't completely dead- although most of it consisted of wilted plants and patches of dandelions, some parts of it were seemingly erupting with life. There were colorful, blooming flowers, and small shrubs sprinkled with blueberries and other types of colorful fruit. But the next thing noticed was that there was no other people to be seen. Sighing, he placed his backpack on the ground and looked around, trying to see where this mystery person who was supposed to be watching him was. After a few minutes of seeing no one, he tentatively opened the gate of the rusted chain-link that surrounded the garden, wincing at the loud squeak it emitted. "Hello? Anyone here?" he called.

"Dan?" he heard a voice call from somewhere within a patch of tall flowers. Dan raised an eyebrow, stepping over the weeds and dead plants as he made his way towards the voice. Just as he reached the flowers, someone who had been hidden in them popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. Dan let out an embarrassingly girly screech, jumping back.

"Sorry!" the boy who had emerged from the plants exclaimed. "A-are you okay?"

Dan exhaled shakily, trying to calm himself down. "Yeah, I'm fine... you just scared me, that's all..."

"Okay..." The boy held out his hand awkwardly. "I'm Phil... and you're Dan, right?"

"Yeah." Dan tentatively shook Phil's hand, taking in the other boy's appearance as he did so. The first thing he noticed were Phil's startlingly blue eyes, which stood out even more when paired with his raven-black hair and pale skin. The clumsily made flower crown perched lopsided on his head, as well as the few petals and leaves stuck to his yellow hoodie, made him seem as though he had erupted from the ground like a plant himself. Dan couldn't help but stare at him for a few seconds before managing to tear his eyes away. "So, what am I gonna be doing?"

"Well, I just finished this patch over here, so we're gonna be getting rid of some of the weeds and stuff in the other parts." Phil grinned. "It's the most tedious part, but it's worth it once stuff starts to grow in it." He gestured to the other parts of the garden and the short, slightly underdeveloped plants before bending down and picking up a pair of work gloves and couple of trowels, already covered with splotches of dirt. Dan smirked and pointed at the rubber handle of one of them, which was pink with Hello Kitty faces. "Really?"

Phil pouted and looked down. "They were the only ones I could find. I mean, it doesn't matter as long as it gets the job done, right?"

"I guess you're right." Dan tugged the gloves onto his hands before grabbing a trowel and kneeling down in a patch of crabgrass, frowning. "The dirt's gonna get all over my jeans..."

"It's fine. It'll wash out anyways." Phil knelt down next to him, already starting to dig up a weed by the roots. "Once you get it out, just chuck it in that bucket over there." For about thirty minutes or so, neither of them spoke as they worked, the silence only being broken by the twitter of birds and the faint yells of the football players practicing on the field atop the nearby hill. Eventually, Dan decided to speak up- the silence was driving him nuts. "So, um... I bet you're not appreciating having to look after me... gardening all afternoon must be pretty boring."

Phil shook his head. "I actually love working here! I spend most of the school day here, which is why most people don't see me in any of their classes..."

"Why?" Dan grabbed a weed by the roots and attempted to pull it out, but it was firmly stuck. Phil seemed oblivious to Dan's struggle, crossing his legs and looking up at the sky as he continued to talk, more to himself than Dan. "I actually agreed to help the school with the garden to pay for my scholarship... my parents don't have a lot of money, so they talked with the school and said that this could be a way to help pay for it..." He let out a small sigh that could have been from contentment or sadness, looking around the garden at the half-grown plants.

Dan finally managed to yank the weed out of the ground, the force of his tug causing dirt to fall down from the roots of the plant and land on his clothes. "Shit..." He chucked the weed into the bucket before attempting to brush the dirt off; however, his filthy gloves just ended up making the situation worse. "For God's sake..."

Phil giggled quietly, tugging off his gloves. "Let me help you with that..." He gently began picking the bits of dirt off of Dan's thin grey t-shirt. Dan flinched slightly as Phil's hands brushed against his torso through his shirt, his heart pounding quickly. He didn't move a muscle until Phil had finished, lifting his hands away. He quickly picked up his trowel and kept his eyes on the ground, his face feeling slightly warm.

Phil frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine..." Dan pretended to be extremely interested in a patch of dandelions. All of them were a bright yellow except for one, which was now a fluffy white sphere. He poked the stem of the white dandelion with one finger, causing a couple of the fuzzy white seeds to drift off and float up into the sky. Phil noticed the dandelion too and smiled, reaching over and picking it. He stood up with the stem of the flower pinched between his thumb and forefinger, gazing at the hairy white bulb as though it was a precious diamond. Dan stood up as well, smiling as he watched Phil. "You really like that dandelion, huh?"

"It's just so tiny and fluffy..." Phil grinned and raised it up in front of his face. He closed his eyes and blew on it, sending the fuzzy seeds scattering into the air. He opened his eyes, a content smile still on his face as he watched some of the seeds scatter around on the grass outside the garden, the rest of them drifting up into the air and eventually becoming too tiny to watch.

"Did you wish for something?" Dan asked.

"Yep." Phil tied the bare stem in a knot and stuffed it in his pocket. "But I can't tell you, otherwise it won't come true."

Dan chuckled softly. "You're funny..."

"Oh... thank you!" Phil chirped.

"You're welcome..." For a few seconds, the two stood in semi-awkward silence, looking into each other's eyes. Suddenly, the silence was broken by the buzzing of Phil's phone in his back pocket. Phil pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. "It's been an hour already?"

"Wait, really?" Dan asked.

"Yeah..." Dan noticed that Phil sounded slightly disappointed for some reason. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow... actually, I probably won't. Sorry."

"It's fine." Dan said, shrugging. "I'll try to find you and talk to you if I get a chance."

"Thanks." Phil smiled as the two walked out of the garden. Even though it was only four in the afternoon, the sun was already beginning to set. Dan admired the sunset for a few seconds before picking up his backpack and opening the back door to the school. He turned around to see that Phil was walking up the hill. "What are you doing?" he called after him.

"My house is just over the hill," Phil replied. "I always just walk to and from school..."

"Oh, okay!" Dan shrugged. "Well, see ya!"

"Bye, Dan!" WIth that, Phil practically skipped up the hill and disappeared over the top of it. Dan smiled to himself. _That kid's actually pretty nice... I hope we get to see each other again soon._

 

 


	2. The Hoodie

Phil didn't mind that he was always the first person at school in the morning. He was about 95% sure that no other rational human being was awake at 6:15 on a cloudy, foggy Monday, but this didn't bother him at all. Shivering slightly in the cool morning air, he walked over the grassy hill and past the deserted football field, the dew on the grass wetting his sneakers. Even this early in the morning, there were a few signs of life- there were a couple of birds chirping in the trees, and a squirrel ran across his path as he walked down the hill.

Smiling to himself, Phil hopped over the rusty fence surrounding the garden. For a few seconds, he simply stood there, admiring the flowers and plants that had bloomed so far. Then he reached down and picked a single flower- a tiny daffodil with a long stem. Phil tucked the daffodil behind his ear, weaving part of the stem into his hair so it wouldn't fall out. Every morning when he got to school, he would always put some flowers in his hair. Sometimes it would be a full-blown flower crown, and other times it would just be a single flower, like today. He knew that when people saw him in the halls, they would stare at him and sometimes throw some rude comments his way, but he didn't care. The flowers always made him feel happy and gave him a little mood boost throughout the day.

As Phil bent down and started rummaging in his backpack, he could hear some faint footsteps coming towards him. He lifted his head and was surprised to see none other than Dan walking towards him. The brunette was dressed in black jeans and an oversized navy blue hoodie emblazoned with a crescent moon that seemed to glow slightly through the fog. Raising an eyebrow, Phil stood up and walked over to the edge of the fence. "Hi, Dan..."

"Hey." Dan smiled and nodded, pushing a few strands of hair out of his face.

"What are you doing here?" Phil asked. "I didn't think you'd be at school at all on a Monday, never mind this early in the morning..."

"Well, I figured you'd be here pretty early. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Talk to me? About what?" Phil asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"About anything." Dan leaned against the fence, drumming his fingers against his thigh. "I just wanna get to know you..."

"But why?" Phil asked, putting his hands in his pockets. "I mean, we only saw each other once... why would you show up to school early just to talk to someone you only met because of detention?"

"I don't know..." Dan sighed, tugging his sleeves over his hands, forming a warm layer between his fingers and the cold metal of the fence. "You just seem interesting to talk to, that's all..."

Phil felt his face growing hot at Dan's words, and he looked down at the ground, pretending to be fascinated with a patch of crabgrass. Finally, he willed himself to speak. "Well... what did you want to talk to me about?"

Dan shrugged as he hopped over the fence, being sure to step on a few dandelions and not on the plants. "What kinda stuff do you like to do besides gardening?"

"Well, I actually have a Youtube channel. I mostly just tell stories about my life. Nothing special," Phil grinned.

"That's cool," Dan smiled and leaned against the fence. "I considered doing that, but I figured that no one would watch my videos. So I've just never done it."

"If you really want to do that, you shouldn't let failure keep you from doing it. I didn't get any views at first, but once more people found out about my channel more people started watching it."

"I guess." Dan shrugged and looked up at the sky. "It's raining a bit..." As he spoke, a raindrop landed on Phil's forehead. Phil flinched slightly at how cold it was and shivered slightly, looking down at his shoes. He had no idea why he had decided not to bring a jacket. A few seconds later, he felt something being draped over his shoulders. Looking up, he saw that Dan had taken off his oversized hoodie and put it on him. "You can wear that if you're cold." Dan made a tiny smile.

Phil could feel himself starting to blush again. "Thank you," he mumbled as he slid his arms into the sleeves and pulled the hood over his head. _Why are you getting embarrassed? It's just a hoodie..._

"You wanna head inside? It's starting to rain harder." Dan gestured towards the back door of the school.

"Yeah." Swinging his backpack onto his shoulder, Phil opened the gate and walked towards the door, Dan trailing after him looking slightly like a lost puppy. He managed to pull open the heavy metal door and held it open for Dan. He stood in the doorway, looking out at the quickly darkening clouds and the sprinkling rain before closing the door and turning to Dan. "There's still an hour and a half until school starts..."

"Hmm..." Dan thought for a few seconds. "How about we just hang out near my locker til class starts? You can show me your Youtube channel if you want to..."

"That sounds good." Phil smiled at him.

**Time skip (brought to you by no one in particular)**

"Your videos are actually really good!" Dan smiled. The two of them were leaning against the wall of lockers in the upstairs hall, Dan's Macbook perched between them.

"Thanks... I mean, they're nothing special, I just filmed them on a cheap video camera..." Phil shrugged, tugging the sleeves of Dan's hoodie over his hands and smiling slightly. "But thanks anyways."

"I'm serious, these are really good," Dan said, clicking the "subscribe" button. "I wish I could make videos like that... I have no creative skills whatsoever..."

"You don't need creative skills to make videos. All you need is something to film with, and a bit of imagination," Phil grinned. "At least, that's what I say..."

"I still don't know... I feel like all my videos would just be weird and cringy." Dan sighed quietly, moving the mouse around in a small circle on the screen.

"I'm sure they'd be fine. You're a pretty interesting person too," Phil said, playfully bumping Dan's shoulder with his head. Just as Dan was about to respond, the morning bell rang. Phil sighed and stood up. "Well, this was fun..."

"Yeah." Dan smiled, closing his Macbook and clambering to his feet. "I'll see you later-"

"Wait!" Phil started to unzip Dan's hoodie. "I never gave you your hoodie back."

"Actually, you can keep it." Dan zipped the hoodie back up and pulled the hood over Phil's head. "It looks better on you anyways." And with that, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Phil standing stock-still in the middle of the hallway with a tomato-red face and an oversized hoodie draped over his shoulders.

 


	3. Scribbled Flowers and Cat Whiskers

_Why the hell would you say something like that?_  Dan thought to himself. He had laid his head on the desk and had his earbuds lodged in his ears, waiting for his history teacher to come in. Even though it was already third period, he couldn't get the incident with Phil out of his head.  _You should have just taken the hoodie back from him! And why the fuck would you say it "looked better on him?" Jesus Christ..._

Dan was snapped out of his daydream when someone shook his shoulder. Grumbling a curse under his breath, he yanked out his earbuds and sat up, a glare already plastered on his face. "What do you want?" he grumbled, in a sour mood from the event earlier in the day, as well as being disturbed from his semi-conscious state. However, his eyes widened when he realized it was Phil standing near his desk, looking slightly startled by his sudden outburst. "Oh... Phil, I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was you..."

"I was just gonna ask if this seat was taken..." Phil mumbled, gesturing to the empty seat next to Dan's. "But if you don't want me to sit near you, that's fine..."

"No-no-no, it's fine!" Dan said quickly. "There's no one sitting there..."

"You sure?" Phil asked, gently drumming his fingers on Dan's desk.

"I'm sure, really." Dan nodded his head.

"Okay, whatever you say..." His seemingly ever-present smile already back on his face, Phil slid into the desk next to Dan, placing his stuff on the desktop. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here, huh?"

"Yeah, shouldn't you be planting hydrangeas or something?" Dan asked half-mockingly, smirking.

Phil chuckled softly. "Not exactly. History is one of the classes I can't get out of by gardening. But apparently I somehow managed to test into the honors course, so here I am!" He smiled and adjusted the flower in his hair, which was already partially wilted. "I guess it's lucky that you're in this class... otherwise, I wouldn't know anybody." 

At that moment, the teacher walked into the room, clapping her hands a couple times to get the students' attention. Phil promptly turned to the front of the room, pulling out his notebook and flipping to a clean page. Dan sighed and put his earbuds back in, blocking out the drone of the teacher. For a few minutes, he doodled on the desk with a Sharpie as Fall Out Boy blared in both ears. Eventually, he looked up and noticed Phil was staring at him with a confused expression. Dan fumbled in his backpack for a piece of paper and wrote down something with the Sharpie before passing the paper over to Phil.  **This teacher doesn't give two shits what I do in her class. She knows I never do any work. As long as I'm not hitting someone over the head with a desk or something, she leaves me alone.**

Phil quickly read the note. Biting his lip, he scribbled a reply before sliding the paper back across the desk.  _How come you don't pay attention?_

**Because it's boring. Why should I listen to something I'm not interested in?**

_I see what you mean, but that's kinda the point of school. You may not like it, but you kinda have to listen._

**I don't really care. I'd rather just slack off and skip class. I don't know why, I just do.**

At first, Phil didn't write down a reply and simply stared at the paper for a minute or so. Finally, he drew something on the paper and slid it back over. It was a small, sloppy doodle of a flower with a smiling face. Dan smiled at the drawing before scribbling a rain cloud over it. Phil pouted and glared at Dan. Dan shrugged.  **What? Plants need rain, not just sun.**

_I guess you're right._ Phil drew a sun next to the cloud.  _Now it can have both._

Dan smiled and sketched some grass under the flower as Phil added a couple more clouds. Phil quickly wrote something else on the corner of the paper.  **I can't draw very well, sorry.**

_It's fine, neither can I._  Dan grinned at him. Phil smiled back before reaching over and plucking the Sharpie out of Dan's hand. Slightly confused, Dan watched as Phil drew cat whiskers and a nose on the back of Dan's hand. Dan snorted and stifled a laugh, taking Phil's pencil and writing again.  **What was that for?**

_They're cat whiskers. Don't you like them?_

**No, they're cute. But why on my hand?**

_I could draw some on your face too if you wanted._

**How about when we're not in school? I have a feeling that wouldn't blow over well.**

_Whatever you say._

**They're quite long. Guess I'm an aged cat.**

Phil snickered quietly.  _Now you do me._

Dan smiled and took the Sharpie, drawing identical cat whiskers on the back of Phil's hand.

"Now we match," Phil mouthed.

Dan nodded before turning back to the desk and continuing to draw on it with the Sharpie. Phil sighed and shook his head, laughing quietly. After a minute or so, he wrote something on the paper.  _What are you listening to?_ In response, Dan pulled out one of the earbuds and passed it over to Phil. Phil put it in his ear and listened with a small smile.  _Nice..._

**Thanks, I guess?**  Dan sighed quietly and glanced down at his hand,  tracing the cat whisker design with his finger. When he looked up again, he noticed that Phil was looking at him with a tiny, awkward smile. Dan raised an eyebrow and managed a small smile in return. The instant he returned the smile, Phil quickly turned away, biting his lip. Dan was slightly confused but chose not to question this, instead beginning to draw on the desk again. But he somehow couldn't push the incident out of his mind...

**A/N: Hello, my wonderful reader! I'm sorry this chapter is so short. But hopefully you guys still like it. Please vote and feel free to tell me what you think or give me suggestions! :)**


	4. Wilted Flower Crowns

The instant the bell at the end of the day rang, Phil dashed out of the room like a bat out of hell, his backpack still open and overflowing with assorted papers. He hurried down the hall, swerving out of people's way last-minute to avoid hitting them. He repeated this routine every single day at the end of last period, eager to escape the crowded, loud, environment of school and return to the garden, where he could go back to his own little world, where he wouldn't be constantly badgered and bullied by the other students. Phil tried not to let the student's comments about being "that one weird kid" get to him, but sometimes he just couldn't help but feel hurt- any rational person would feel that way, at least a little bit. Being outside, completely apart from the other students (apart from the occasional football player who passed by on their way to practice) gave him a chance to relax and just forget the day's events.

Opening the back door of the school, Phil stepped out onto the grass, which was still slightly wet from the morning's rain. It was still slightly cloudy, the sun shining out from behind the clouds the slightest bit. Smiling a bit, Phil dropped his bag on the ground and spun around in a small circle, looking up at the half-visible sun before dashing over to the garden, opening the gate and walking in. As he bent down to pick a fluffy white dandelion, he heard the back door of the school open and slam shut loudly. Looking over his shoulder, he was surprised to see Dan standing there with his arms crossed. Phil eagerly hopped up and walked over to him. "Hey, Dan-"

"So I'm stuck with you for another two hours," Dan snapped, looking down at the ground. "Apparently being twenty minutes late to class is cause enough for detention."

"Oh..." Phil sighed quietly. "Well, I guess it's a good thing we get along then, huh?" He managed a small laugh but stopped when he noticed Dan didn't seem amused. "I'm sorry."

"Can you believe it? I had a legitimate excuse for being late!" Dan blurted, stomping his foot like a little kid having a temper tantrum. 

"What was it?" Phil asked tentatively. 

After a short pause, Dan mumbled, "I was with the nurse. I didn't feel well..."

"But doesn't the nurse give you a pass if you miss class while you're with her?" Phil asked, slightly confused.

"Look, it doesn't matter, okay?" Dan snapped, clearly pissed off. "Let's just get this over with..."

"Okay," Phil whispered. He decided not to push Dan any further- the boy looked as though he would explode if he uttered another word. He slowly walked back towards the gate, Dan shuffling along after him. 

"So, what are you having me do today?" Dan sighed, crossing his arms.

"Well, some of the plants are dying. So we have to dig them up so that they don't affect the other plants," Phil replied. 

"Alright. That doesn't sound too boring," Dan grumbled.

"Yeah..." Phil sighed softly. Dan wasn't as fun to talk to when he was angry. He knelt down and pointed towards some tulips, which were clearly wilted and dried up. "We can start with these." He looked at them sadly. "I have no idea why they're all dying... they were fine two days ago..."

"Plants are like that. They all die eventually," Dan said, picking up one of the Hello Kitty trowels and jamming it in the dirt near the tulips' roots. 

"Yeah, but they were perfectly fine just a few days ago. I have no idea why they're dying all of a sudden." Phil shrugged. 

"Meh... I don't know." Dan dug up one of the wilted tulips, chucking it into the nearby bucket. For a while, neither of them spoke, the awkward silence being occasionally broken by the dull thump of the flowers landing in the plastic bucket.  Eventually, Phil decided to speak, choosing his words carefully so as not to further upset Dan. "So, um... what are you gonna do after this?"

"What does it matter?" Dan asked softly, brushing some dirt off his jeans. 

"I just wanted to know... you've already asked me about myself, so now I'm asking about you..." Phil shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." 

"I'm just gonna go home and watch my brother until my mom gets home. Nothing special," Dan replied.  "If I have time I'll try to get some homework done instead of rushing to get it done before school starts." 

"I don't have any homework, so I might upload a new video." Phil smiled. "I'm not 100% sure, though."

"Well, if you do, I'll be sure to watch it when I get a chance." Dan smiled for the first time since he had exited the school building. 

"Thanks. Are you still thinking about starting your own channel?" Phil asked.

"Maybe. I still feel like people would see my content as a joke and not like it." Dan sighed quietly, his small smile quickly fading. "I wanna do it, but I feel like it would be a bad idea..."

"But if you want to do it, you should..." Phil pulled two of the tulips out of the bucket and began weaving them together. Off of Dan's confused look, he said, "I just realized that instead of throwing them out, we can put them to good use."

"Which would be?"

"You'll see. Just watch..." After a few minutes, Phil had managed to make a lopsided, slightly dead flower crown out of the wilting flowers. He scooted closer to Dan and perched the flower crown on his head. "Here you go..."

"Really?" Dan raised an eyebrow. 

"What? That's a good use for them." Phil smiled.

"I look ridiculous," Dan mumbled. However, there was a small smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"Come on, I know you like it..." Phil giggled quietly. "I can you see you smiling."

"I'm not smiling," Dan said, fighting to keep from breaking into a huge grin. "I'm really not."

"Yes you are..." Phil poked Dan's cheek with his finger. The action caused Dan to burst into spontaneous laughter, covering his mouth with his hand in a poor attempt to stifle his giggles. Phil couldn't help but start laughing too, their laughter mingling in the air. When the two finally managed to calm down, Dan exhaled shakily, rubbing away the happy tears in his eyes. "You got me... I was smiling..."

"Clearly..." Phil chuckled softly. "You should keep the crown, it looks nice on you..."

Dan's eyes widened, and he covered his red cheeks with his hands. "W-what do you mean?" he stuttered, clearly flustered by the compliment. 

"Well, you complimented me this morning, so I figured I should return the favor..." Phil managed a small smile, a happy blush spreading over his face.

"Oh..." Dan looked down at the ground, picking at an imaginary hangnail.

"Why, is something wrong?" Phil asked.

"You just... it just sounded kinda weird..."

Phil frowned. "What do you mean? People compliment each other all the time..."

"It's just... nothing. Never mind, okay?" Dan bit his lip. 

Phil started to respond but decided not to press him, as he didn't want the brunette to become angry again. "Okay..."

"Sorry... I must be upsetting you, acting like this..." Dan sighed softly, adjusting the slightly lopsided flower crown.

"No, it's fine, honestly." Phil nodded. 

"You sure?" Dan asked. 

"Yeah, I'm sure." Phil smiled at him. Dan raised an eyebrow but smiled back awkwardly. The two sat together simply smiling at each other, huge smiles plastered on their faces. Phil knew that this must have looked and felt very strange to be simply staring at Dan; however, he couldn't bring himself to look away from the taller boy's sparkling brown eyes. However, he was forced to look away when a football flew past his ear and landed right in the middle of the patch of dead tulips.  Letting out a small yelp of surprise, he jumped away, almost landing in Dan's lap in the process. "W-where the heck did that come from?!"

As if in response to Phil's question, one of the football players dashed down the hill. "Sorry 'bout that..." He reached over the fence and grabbed the football before running up the hill with it held over his head like a war trophy, resulting in several triumphant yells from the football field. Taking a shaky breath, Phil moved back to where he was before. "That scared me..."

"You okay?" Dan asked, putting a hand on Phil's shoulder, one of his fingers touching bare skin where the oversized hoodie had slipped off of the shorter boy's shoulder. Phil shuddered slightly as Dan's fingers briefly graced over his skin, nodding his head and praying the blush on his face wasn't noticeable. Dan smiled briefly. "Good." He removed his hand, but Phil swore he could still feel the heat of Dan's hand even after he was gone.

"We should probably get back to work," Phil said softly, trying to distract himself.

"Yeah, probably..." Dan sighed and picked up the Hello Kitty trowel. Phil nodded for no reason in particular, looking down at the tulips, which were now partially squished from being flattened by the football.  _Why are you acting like this? It wasn't a big deal that he touched you, so why are you taking this so seriously?_ Trying and failing to push the occurrence to the back of his mind, he picked up the other trowel and attempted to fill his head with thoughts of wilted tulips.

 


	5. Embraces in a Parking Lot

When Dan left the school two hours later, he noticed something strange. And that something was the multiple bottles of acrylic paint that had been dumped on somebody's car. Raising an eyebrow, he walked over towards the car, curious to see what had happened. There were several empty bottles of paint on the ground near the car, and the car itself was splattered with pink, purple, and blue splotches that were dripping onto the pavement.  _I wonder who did this..._ Dan thought. _More importantly, I wonder whose car this is..._

As if in answer to his question, there was a small gasp from behind him. Turning around, Dan's eyes widened when he saw Phil standing behind him. "Oh my god..."

"Phil? Is this your car?" Dan asked tentatively.

Phil nodded slowly, taking a couple of steps closer. "What happened?" he asked softly.

"I don't know. I just came out and saw it like this..." 

Phil let out a shaky sigh, walking up to the car and poking the paint with his finger. "Why would somebody do this?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"I don't know... but whoever did it is an asshole..." Dan put a hand on Phil's shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. Phil sniffed quietly in response, simply staring at his car. Dan waited for him to say something. When he didn't, he glanced over and saw that Phil had tears welling in his eyes. Not even thinking about it, he pulled Phil into a hug, letting the black haired boy rest his head on his shoulder. "It's alright, Phil... I'll help you fix it... I'm sure it'll wash off since it's still wet."

"That's not it," Phil mumbled.

"Then what is it?" Dan asked softly.

"I'll show you..." Phil extricated himself from Dan's arms and picked up a torn piece of notebook paper stuck underneath the tire. Written on the paper in big black letters were the words:  **Make up your mind, freak.**

"I don't get it..." Dan said.

Phil bit his lip, looking down at the pavement. "Look at the colors of the paint. Those are the colors of the bisexual pride flag..."

"I still don't... oh." The realization hit Dan. "Y-you're bi?"

"Yeah. And a lot of people here don't appreciate it. It's just another reason for them to pick on me..." Phil rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. "They tell me to make up my mind and just pick one or the other..." He put his head on Dan's shoulder, hugging him. 

Dan put his arms around Phil, squeezing the shorter boy like a stuffed animal. He could feel Phil's shoulders beginning to shake with sobs, and he gently rubbed his back like he was comforting a small child. "It's okay, Phil..."

"No it's not," Phil choked out, his voice slightly muffled. "I just want them to leave me alone... I don't know what I ever did to them..." 

"Phil, lemmie promise you something. If those people ever do something like this again, I swear that I will personally kick their ass."

"You don't have to do that," Phil sighed. "I've gotten used to it at this point..."

"No you haven't, Phil. And even if you have, people shouldn't be doing these things to you just because you're different..." Dan put a finger under Phil's chin and tilted his head up, forcing him to look him in the eye. "I wanna help you deal with these people..."

"Okay..." Phil gazed up at him unblinkingly, his blue eyes still sparkling with unshed tears. He managed a small smile. "Thanks, Dan..." 

"It's nothing..." Dan couldn't help but stare at Phil, taking in every feature of the shorter boy's face. With a sudden jolt of realization, he noticed that he was attractive, in a weird sort of way. A split second later, Dan quickly pulled out of the hug and retreated towards the car, praying that Phil couldn't see the blush spreading over his face.  _What the hell... why would you think he was cute? He's a guy... you shouldn't be thinking about him that way..._

"Dan? Are you okay?" Phil asked, slightly confused. 

"Y-yeah," Dan stuttered. "I'm fine... we should probably start getting the paint off your car though..." 

"Oh, yeah..." Phil chuckled softly. "You think it'll come off with water?"

"Yeah, unless it's dried already. Then we'll have to think of something else."

"There's a hose in back of the school. If I drive my car onto the lawn, it'll reach far enough," Phil said. 

"Alright, I'll go get it set up." Dan went back around to the back of the school, eventually finding the green garden hose sitting in a neatly coiled pile near a faucet sticking out of the brick wall of the school. Picking the hose up and attaching it to the faucet, he turned around and waited until he saw the paint splattered car rumbling over the grass and slowly coming to a stop a few feet away. Phil clambered out of the car and walked over towards Dan, still rubbing his eyes with his hands. There were visible tear marks on his pale face, and he was still sniffing slightly. Frowning slightly, Dan pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Hey, it's okay.."

"I'm just still a bit upset, that's all..." Phil sighed, shuffling his feet and looking down at the grass. 

"Understandably. But it'll be fine, we'll find a way to fix this." Dan smiled at him. Phil chuckled softly and smiled back.

**A/N: Hello, beautiful readers! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've had a serious case of writer's block. :( Also, sorry the ending kinda sucked. But either way, I hope you like this new chapter!**


	6. Eyes Like Chocolate Diamonds

"Dan, it's not working," Phil sighed, crossing his arms. He and Dan had been trying to get the paint off his car for the past half an hour, but to no avail. All they'd managed to do was smear the paint around more and make it run, resulting in watery multicolored puddles on the grass below the car. To make matters worse, the paint had begun drying, and now they couldn't even make a dent in it. 

"Great..." Dan rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Phil, I'm sorry..."

"It's fine, honestly..." Phil shrugged. "But what are we gonna do now? I can't drive it home, the paint is all over the windshield. Plus, I'd probably get pulled over for it looking like this anyways..." 

"I don't know, I'll try to think of something..." Dan leaned against the one part of the car that wasn't covered in paint, his arms crossed as he looked down at his shoes. Phil stood next to him with his back pressed against the front bumper, squinting slightly in the bright sun. His eyes slowly traveled over the taller male's form, gazing at him with wide eyes.  _Wow... he's actually kinda cute..._  The next moment, Dan glanced over, making eye contact with him. Phil quickly turned his head the other way, pretending to be very interested in the nearby school building.  _Did he see me looking at him?...That's a ridiculous question, of course he did!_  As if in response to his thoughts, Dan asked, "Were you just staring at me?" 

"Maybe..." Phil could feel a slight blush spreading across his cheeks, and he covered the lower half of his face with his hands. "Sorry..."

"No, it's fine," Dan replied, shrugging. 

"Alright... I just thought you might be creeped out by me staring at you," Phil said.

"I don't mind. Your eyes are nice to look at, so it's fine."

Slightly flustered, Phil shyly glanced up at him. "They're not that pretty... I mean, they're just blue; a lot of people have blue eyes."

"They're not just blue." Dan tilted Phil's head up so that he had a better view of the shorter boy's eyes. "Yeah, they're mostly blue, but if you look closely, you can see they're this really pretty combination of blue and green and yellow... it's just constantly changing whenever you look at it a different way." He smiled, putting his hands in my pockets. "I wish I had your eyes... mine are just a dull brown..."

"They're not dull," Phil said, pouting. "They look really nice when you look up and the sun reflects off them..."

"Like this?" Dan tilted his head at an upward angle, his eyes brightening in the sunlight.

"Yeah!" Phil smiled. "They're like... like chocolate diamonds..."

"Chocolate diamonds?" Dan smirked and chuckled. "Are those a real thing?"

"They actually are. They're like regular diamonds, but they're kind of caramel colored." 

"That's cool..." Dan grinned.

Phil nodded. "Yeah... that's what I thought your eyes looked like..."

"Thanks..." Dan chuckled softly. There was a small period of semi-awkward silence, during which the two simply looked at each other. Phil knew he should look away, but at the same time, he didn't want to. Dan's lips slowly parted as though he was about to speak. However, the words never left his mouth, as he was promptly interrupted by Phil's phone buzzing in his back pocket, vibrating against the metal bumper. Flinching slightly, Phil quickly fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his phone. 

"Who is it?" Dan asked.

"It's my mom... she wants to know why I'm not home yet..." 

"Crap..." Dan mumbled. "We'll have to figure out a way to fix this quickly..." He rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers, his eyes closed as he concentrated. Finally, after about a minute or so, he opened his eyes and turned to Phil. "Alright. I could call my dad and ask him to drive your car to the repair shop. They could see if they can do anything to fix it."

"Okay, but how will I get home?" Phil asked.

Dan shrugged. "I could give you a ride home."

"Oh! Thanks!" Phil grinned.

"No problem. Besides, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to stay in the school parking lot overnight," Dan smirked.

"That'd be horrible..." Phil giggled.

"Yeah..." Dan's eyes lingered on Phil for a few seconds more before he quickly said, "I'll call my dad now..." Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he held up his finger in a "one second" gesture before walking a few feet away to talk. Phil watched him go, smiling to himself. 


	7. Realization Over Emo Music

Dan glanced over at Phil, watching as he rested his head on his hand, yawning slightly as he watched the outside fly by. The window was rolled down halfway, causing his black hair to be swirled around by the wind coming into the car. Smiling slightly, Dan turned his attention back to the road, drumming his fingers lightly on the steering wheel.

"Hey, Dan?"

"Yeah?" Dan glanced over at Phil.

"Do you think they're gonna be able to fix my car?" Phil asked softly.

Dan actually didn't know. He wasn't sure if the paint would come off without the car itself being damaged. However, for Phil's sake, he put on a small smile. "Sure they will. They're professionals..."

"I guess..." Phil shrugged and yawned softly. "I hope so..." He reached over and turned on the radio, the silence in the car being broken by some god-awful screechy metal song blaring through the speakers. Dan quickly turned the radio off again and glanced over at Phil, who was staring wide-eyed at him. "W-what the heck was that?"

"Sorry..." Dan chuckled. "Forgot I had that on.." He smiled at him. "You can put on whatever you like..."

"Alright..." Phil turned the radio back down, putting the volume almost all the way down before looking through the other channels. Dan turned back to the road, swearing under his breath as the light turned red just as he pulled up to it. "For fuck's sake..."

"It's just a red light," Phil said.

"But we've hit like five in a row... honestly, God hates me today or something," Dan sighed. Phil giggled softly, and Dan couldn't help but smile at his laugh. Phil eventually turned the radio back up to an audible level, and Dan groaned at the song that was on. "Seriously?  _Welcome to the Black Parade?_ "

"What? MCR may have broken up years ago, but their music is still pretty good," Phil shrugged.

"I guess..." Dan mumbled. He hummed the lyrics to himself for a little bit, then eventually started singing them, very quietly. Some people had told him that he had a really nice singing voice, but he didn't believe them. It was too high-pitched, and he was always a couple of notes off-key. He didn't notice at first due to being so focused on the road, but eventually he realized Phil was singing too. And it wasn't quiet, either- he was belting out the lyrics as loud as he could, nearly drowning out the radio. Dan giggled to himself- even though Phil's voice was cracking on the high notes, he still sounded good. He was completely passionate about what he was singing, his eyes squeezed shut and the corners of his mouth curling up into a smile. Dan sang along with him, slightly louder than before, their voices blending in a slightly off-key harmony. The song came to a stop just as they pulled up in front of Phil's house. Phil smiled and opened his eyes, glancing over at Dan. "Your singing voice is really nice..."

"No it's not..." Dan sighed, blushing and covering his face with his hands. "You sounded way better than me..."

"No way! I was just belting the lyrics the entire time..." Phil smiled. 

"You still sounded a lot better..." Dan peeked out from behind his fingers with a tiny smile.

Phil sighed softly and glanced out the window. "Well, I guess I've gotta go now..."

"Yeah. I'll tell you tomorrow if we managed to get the paint off..."

"Wait, hold on..." Phil reached over and grabbed Dan's hand, slipping something into it. He closed Dan's fingers over the object and patted his hand before grabbing his backpack and stepping out of the car. "Bye, Dan!" He practically skipped up the steps to his house, Dan staring after him with slight confusion and shock. Opening his hand, he saw there was a small crumpled piece of notebook paper in his palm. On it in messy, loopy handwriting was a phone number he assumed was Phil's. Smiling to himself, Dan added the number to his contacts before pulling back onto the street, his heart fluttering in his chest. His skin was seemingly tingling where Phil had touched it, and his face was slowly heating up. With a sudden shock of realization, his stomach sank.  _Fucking_   _hell..._

_I think I have a crush on Phil Lester._

 


	8. Falling Asleep to the Sound of Your Voice

Phil sighed softly as he lay under the blue and green covers, staring up at the ceiling and rubbing his tired eyes that refused to stay closed. This happened every single night- no matter how tired he was, no matter how late he stayed up, no matter what medications he took, he simply would not be able to fall asleep until 10 minutes before he had to wake up for school. He had no idea what his problem was, but it was impossible for him to get more than an hour or two of sleep a night. Phil knew this probably wasn't healthy, and he'd talked to his mom and brother about it, but both of them had just dismissed it and said it was perfectly normal for him to not fall asleep right away. But he knew that wasn't the case.

Sitting up, Phil grabbed his phone off of the bedside table and turned it on, squinting at the sudden bright light. He immediately noticed two new texts from Dan. With a smile, he tapped the notification to view the texts.

**Dan: good news, they managed to get all the paint off.**

**Dan: they want to know if you want to press charges tho.**

_Phil: why would i want to do that?_

**Dan: well technically those kids were vandalizing your personal property, so it's considered a crime even if they're under 18.**

**Dan: so?...**

_Phil: i don't think i will._

**Dan: but those kids messed up your car. it's fucking illegal for them to do that**

_Phil: yeah, but i still don't want to._

A few moments passed when Dan didn't text back, and Phil thought he had somehow made him angry. Finally, a few minutes later, his phone buzzed.

**Dan: can i call you? i feel more comfortable talking when i can actually hear your voice...**

_Phil: sure! :)_

Seconds later, Phil's phone vibrated with an incoming call. He quickly answered it. "Hey..."

"Phiiiiiil," Dan instantly whined. "Phil, explain yourself..."

"What do you mean? I don't want to press charges. It's just make them more upset and make them wanna bother me more," Phil sighed. "Besides, it's already over and done. Everything's all set with my car. There's no point in beating a dead horse..."

"But Phil, these kids keep bothering you, and this time it's gone too far. You need to do something about it," Dan said with an audible sigh.

Phil groaned, laying down on his side and playing with the blankets beneath him. "Dan, it's fine. It's over and done now-"

"Phil, if you're not going to do something about this, I will," Dan snapped, clearly pissed off. There were a few moments of semi-awkward silence afterward, but eventually Dan spoke again, his voice slightly lower. "Sorry... I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's fine, Dan. Honestly." Phil smiled, even though he knew Dan couldn't see him. "Just please, don't do anything about this, okay?"

After a few seconds, Dan finally replied, "Okay. I won't."

Phil smiled again, flopping on his back with the phone still pressed to his ear. "Thanks."

"No problem... hey, why are you still up? It's two in the morning..."

Phil sighed. "I don't know. I'm tired, but I can't sleep... This happens all the time. I'm tired, but no matter what."

"Really?" Dan asked. "What do you mean?"

"This has been happening for the longest time! I've tried taking meds, I've tried staying up really late so I get tired, I've tried everything! But every single night, I can't fall asleep..." Phil sighed and hugged his pillow with his free arm. "I don't know what's wrong with me..."

"Have you talked to anyone about it?"

"I asked my mom and my brother, but they said it's perfectly normal for someone not to fall asleep right away," Phil said. "Sure, that might be the case for one night, but not for months in a row!"

"That must be horrible..."

"It is. I just wanna be able to go to sleep! I don't know what to do..." Phil mumbled. 

"Well... I don't want to worry you, but maybe you have a sleep disorder or something?" Dan suggested.

"Maybe..." Phil sighed and yawned softly. "I just wanna get a good night's sleep, just once..."

"...you want me to talk to you while you fall asleep? My mom would do that sometimes... maybe that'd help a bit..." Dan mumbled.

"Maybe." Phil nuzzled his head into his pillow, curling up in a little ball. "We could try it, but I don't think it'll work..."

"Only one way to find out," Dan chuckled softly. "What do you want me to talk to you about?"

"Just anything..." Phil said.

"Alright..." Dan let out a small sigh. "Well, um... I have a history test tomorrow I haven't studied for..."

Phil giggled softly, putting the call on speakerphone so he could hug the pillow with both arms. "Keep going..."

"Okay.. uh, I nearly fell down the stairs this morning when I tripped over my shoelace..."

Phil giggled again, yawning at the same time. "You're attempting to help me go to sleep by telling me about your failures?"

"You said to talk about anything," Dan laughed.

"Just keep talking, you spork," Phil snorted.

"Alright, alright..." As Dan continued to talk, telling him a story about the time he accidentally knocked over his grandmother's house plant as a child, Phil could feel his eyes slowly drifting closed. Pulling the blankets over himself, he put his head on the pillow and focused on Dan's soft-spoken voice. He could feel himself slowly beginning to drift off, and quickly managed to mumbled a goodnight to Dan before he completely fell asleep

**~{}~**

Phil awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside his window. The first thing he realized was that he didn't feel tired. Then, he remembered what had happened the night before.  _Oh my gosh! I actually fell asleep last night!_ With a huge grin on his face, Phil sat up and stretched before picking up his phone, which was still lying on the mattress. There was a new text from Dan.

**Dan: you fell asleep while i was talking to you, i could hear you snoring a bit lmao**

_Phil: I was not! :p_

**Dan: okay, maybe i made that up. but you still fell asleep, that's awesome!**

_Phil: i know! I can't believe it!_

**Dan: me neither! i'm so happy :)**

_Phil: me too! :D_

Phil giggled and spun around in a little circle, feeling happier than he had in months. "I can't believe it!" he whispered to himself. "I can't believe it..."


	9. Cuts and Bruises

Dan smiled to himself as he walked around to the back of the school. He had been in a good mood ever since he had helped Phil fall asleep the night before. He felt somewhat accomplished, as though he had just climbed the biggest mountain ever. He practically skipped over the grass, hands in his sweatshirt pockets. He felt as though nothing could put a damper on his day.

As Dan rounded the corner of the school, he immediately took notice of Phil, who was wearing his crescent moon hoodie. However, he also noticed a person coming out the back door of the school and walking towards him. Frowning slightly, Dan stayed out of view, peeking out from behind the corner to see what happened. Although he couldn't hear what either of them were saying, it was pretty clear that the other person was bothering Phil, since he was backed up against the chain link fence, his fists clenched and his fingers intertwined in the little holes in the fence. At first, they only seemed to be taunting him, so Dan was only a little bit worried. But out of nowhere, the person punched Phil in the stomach, causing him to curl up in a little ball and fall to the ground. Inhaling sharply, Dan emerged from his hiding spot, storming over to where the other person was. "Hey! Get away from him!" The person seemingly ignored him, resorting to kicking Phil in the side and resulting in several pained whimpers. 

"I said get away from him!" Dan hollered, grabbing the person's arm. The person whirled around and slapped his arm, hard. Wincing slightly, Dan yanked his hand away. "What the hell, man?"

The person glared at him, crossing his arms. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm the person who's going to beat the crap out of you if you don't leave Phil alone," Dan snapped.

The person simply chuckled. "I'd like to see you try." Smirking, he kicked Phil in the side of the head, causing the boy in the ground to let out a tiny yelp as the person's boot opened a small cut on his temple. A small stream of blood trickled down from the cut, partially staining the yellow daffodil tucked behind his ear. Practically seeing red, Dan punched the person square in the jaw, causing him to stagger back. 

"I told you to leave him alone," Dan snapped.

The person frowned, stepping away from Dan. "Fine, jeez. Go ahead and defend him. But you're gonna pay for this." He quickly dashed off and ran over the hill.

Dan watched to make sure he was gone before quickly kneeling down by Phil. Groaning softly, Phil squinted in the sun as he glanced up at him. "Dan?"

"Oh my god, Phil..." Dan fumbled in his pocket for some tissues, pressing them against the cut on Phil's head.

"...thanks for scaring that guy off," Phil whispered with a small smile.

"Who the hell was that?" Dan asked, still enraged.

"I don't even know... he's just some kid from one of my classes who's always bothering me," Phil sighed.

Dan sighed and helped Phil sit up, letting him rest his head on his shoulder as he continued to try to stop the flow of blood. "Phil, you've got to tell somebody about this. These kids are bullying you just because you're bi, and that's stupid. You have to talk to someone..."

"Dan, you don't understand! I literally can't. Do you know what they would do to me?" Phil blurted, his voice cracking on the final sentence. He looked down at the ground, blinking quickly. "I can't tell anyone, Dan. They'd just bother me more..."

"Phil... Phil, that's not true. If you tell somebody, then they'd make sure they stop bothering you..."

"No. That's never going to happen, Dan. The only things I can do to not have to deal with them anymore are either transfer to another school or..."

"Phil, no offense, but shut up and listen for like two seconds, okay?" Dan placed his hands on either side of Phil's face, making the shorter boy look at him. "I know you don't want to tell anyone about this, but if you're not going to do it, then I will. These people are physically hurting you for no good reason. You have to tell someone..."

Phil sniffed softly, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand before nodding. "I guess you're right..." He nuzzled Dan's neck with a sigh.

Dan smiled and gently ruffled Phil's hair. "After school today sound good?"

"Yeah..." Phil nodded and attempted to stand up but winced and stayed where he was.

"You alright?" Dan asked, concerned.

"It's from when that guy kicked me... my side hurts so much..."

Dan stood up, reaching down and grabbing Phil's hands. "Count of three, okay?"

"M-hm..." Phil intertwined his fingers with Dan's and nodded.

"One, two, three-" Dan helped Phil to pull himself up, feeling slightly guilty when the shorter boy flinched in pain. He quickly put one arm around Phil's shoulders to steady him. Phil took a couple of shaky breaths, grabbing onto Dan's arm to hold himself upright.

"We should probably make sure you don't have any broken bones or anything. If you're in this much pain, that's not good," Dan said.

"Good idea..."

**~{}~**

It took about ten minutes for Dan to get Phil through the back door of the school, since they had to stop every few seconds due to Phil either whimpering in pain or looking like he was going to pass out. When he finally managed to get Phil inside and into the nearby unoccupied band room, he quickly helped him to sit down in an open folding chair. Phil let out a small sigh of relief when he was finally allowed to sit down, practically melting into the chair. Dan knelt down next to him. "Okay, I'm gonna try to see if it's broken. Tell me if it hurts, alright?" He pressed down hard on Phil's side, but not enough to hurt him even more. Phil winced and nodded, gritting his teeth. Biting his lip, Dan pressed down again, gentler this time. This time, Phil didn't react other than glancing at him.

Dan sighed softly. "Okay, it's probably just a really bad bruise, but I can't tell for sure..."

"Why not?" Phil asked.

"...well, I'd have to see to be sure, and I know you probably don't want to take your shirt off in front of me..." Dan mumbled, blushing a bit and internally screaming with frustration.  _Stop blushing, you moron! He could be really hurt, but your only immediate thought is seeing him with his shirt off?_

"Oh..." Phil bit his lip. "If you really need to know..." He grabbed the edges of his hoodie and his shirt, lifting it up and revealing about half of his torso. Dan gasped when he saw a constellation of purplish-yellow bruises scattered across his pale skin, some of them looking relatively new and some of them old and faded. He reached forward and gently touched the bruises, being sure not to press down too hard. "Oh, Phil..." 

Phil sighed and looked away, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "I know... I should have told you. I'm sorry..." 

"It's not your fault, Phil. It's the fault of whoever did this to you..." 

Phil didn't respond and instead tugged his hoodie back down, covering up the bruises. However, it would take more than simply hiding them to erase them from Dan's memory. After a few seconds of pained silence, Dan finally spoke. "Phil... who did that to you?"

"A bunch of different people... I don't even know their names..." Phil whispered, his voice quivering with every word he spoke. He covered his face with his hands, sniffing quietly.

"Would you be able to recognize them if I pointed them out?" Dan asked.

"Maybe..." Phil mumbled into his hands. "P-please, Dan, I don't wanna talk about it right now..."

Dan wanted to keep talking, but it was clear that Phil was going to have a breakdown if he didn't leave him alone. He pulled the shorter boy into a hug, a pang of guilt rushing through him as Phil immediately started sobbing into his shoulder. He rubbed his hand up and down Phil's back in a calming gesture, trying to calm him down. "I'm sorry, Phil, I shouldn't have kept pestering you..." The only response from Phil was a choking sob, and Dan felt even more guilty. Biting his lip, he squeezed Phil tighter, the only thing he could do at the moment to let Phil know that he was there, and that he wasn't going to let go until he was okay.


	10. It's Gonna Be Okay

Phil had no idea how long he stayed in Dan's arms, crying into his shoulder, heaving with sobs until his lungs physically hurt. When he finally managed to calm himself down, he kept his head pressed into Dan's shirt for a minute or so before looking up, his face feeling hot and sweaty from being buried in the fabric for so long. He avoided eye contact with Dan at first, still feeling embarrassed about crying in front of him. However, he felt Dan tap his shoulder, so he forced himself to look up. 

"You okay?" Dan asked softly. 

"Yeah..." Phil managed a weak smile and nodded. "I'm fine now." 

Dan smiled in return. "We should probably get to class... the bell's gonna ring soon."

"We have English first, right?" Phil asked.

"Yep." Dan nodded and helped Phil to stand up, making sure that he wasn't going to fall over. The two walked out of the band room and down the hall to the classroom. Luckily, the bell wasn't going to ring for another few minutes. Phil sat down at the back of the room, Dan immediately sitting down next to him. Fumbling in his bag for his notebook, Phil grabbed a pen and began doodling on the worn edge of a page already filled with notes. Dan watched him for a minute or so before grabbing a Sharpie and scribbling a star on the corner of the paper. Smiling, Phil scooted the notebook closer to Dan so he had a better angle. Dan drew a couple more stars on the edge of the paper before rolling up the edge of his sleeve and using the Sharpie to draw an infinity symbol on the pale inside of his wrist.

Phil gently traced over the symbol. "That's pretty..." Tugging up the sleeve of his hoodie, he held his wrist out. Dan smiled and drew an identical symbol on Phil's wrist, the marker gently scraping against his skin. Giggling softly, Phil propped his head up on his other hand, examining the symbol. "We match now..."

"Yeah," Dan grinned. He reached towards Phil and gently touched the marker design, his fingers feeling warm against his skin. Phil smiled and chuckled quietly. "That tickles..."

"Sorry..." 

"It's fine." Phil shrugged and was about to continue talking, but stopped when he saw the teacher walk into the room. Flipping to a clean page in his notebook, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Dan promptly put in his earbuds, already in his own little world as he completely disregarded the teacher. Smiling a bit, he turned his attention back to the front of the room.

**~{}~**

Throughout the day, Phil would point out to Dan the various people who had been bothering him. Sure, the entire junior class had something to contribute, but the people who he pointed out were the most responsible for it. At the end of last period, Dan walked up to Phil's desk and leaned against it, drumming his fingers on the tan surface. "You ready?"

"Ready for what...oh." Phil sighed and looked down at the desk. "Yeah, I am..."

"You sure? We can wait a couple minutes if you need to-"

"No, I'm sure. If I don't do it now, I'm never going to." Phil stood up, tugging his backpack onto one shoulder. The two of them walked out of the classroom, Phil hugging one of his textbooks tight to his chest like a stuffed animal. When the two of them reached the vice principal's office, Phil stopped and stood still, biting his lip. Dan frowned and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Phil?"

"M-hm..." Phil nodded slowly. "I'm just a bit nervous, that's all..."

"It's alright, Phil. Nothing's going to happen. This is gonna make things so much better. Besides, I'm gonna be right near you the entire time."

Phil managed a small smile. "Alright..." With a shaky sigh, he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door was opened from the other side by the vice principal, who had a stack of papers in one arm. She greeted them with a friendly smile. "Hello..."

"H-hello..." Phil stumbled over his words slightly. "Um, I kinda need to talk to you about something..."

"Of course. What do you need to talk about?" The vice principal asked, gesturing for the two of them to come into the room. Phil walked in and sat down in one of the black chairs, surprised at how soft it was. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, waiting until Dan and the vice principal sat down before talking. "Uh, well, some people... they've been bothering me." He cringed a bit at how pathetic he sounded, and tried rewording it. "I mean... they haven't been, uh..." He sighed and looked down at his lap, a light blush spreading over his cheeks as he tried to think of a proper way to word it.

Thankfully, Dan spoke for him, allowing Phil to relax a bit. "People have been bullying him because he's bisexual..." As Dan continued to explain, Phil kept his head ducked down, biting his lip and feeling slightly embarrassed about Dan having to talk for him. He tucked his legs up to his chin and wrapped his arms around them, feeling slightly more at ease in the curled-up position. Eventually, once Dan had concluded speaking, he glanced back up, adjusting the flower in his hair and flinching slightly when his fingers touched a bit of dried blood on it from that morning. 

The vice principal sighed in thought, drumming her fingers on the wooden desktop. "Well... this seems to be a very serious problem. Do you know the names of the people who were bullying you?"

Phil nodded as he listed off the names of the people, and the vice principal wrote them down on a sticky note. "Alright. I can assure you that I'll take care of this. Thank you for coming to see me about this."

"You're welcome." Phil managed a tiny smile as he stood up, slowly walking out of the room. Dan followed him out a few seconds later, closing the door. Phil stuck his hands into his pockets. "I guess that wasn't so bad..."

"Told you it was gonna be fine." Dan chuckled softly, brushing a few wayward curls out of his face.

Phil shrugged and giggled quietly. Without thinking, he threw his arms around Dan, pulling him into a tight hug. Almost immediately, he felt Dan return the gesture, wrapping his arms around his waist and accidentally lifting him a bit off the floor. Phil let out a surprised yelp, standing on his toes in an attempt to avoid being completely lifted up. Dan giggled and quickly lowered him, keeping his arms around him for a few seconds more before pulling away and putting his hands in his sweatshirt pocket. "You gonna be staying after school for a bit?"

"Yeah..." Phil nodded. "Why, are you?"

"Sure. We can plant some hydrangeas or something," Dan smiled.

"That sounds good." Phil nodded. As he smiled at Dan, he was somehow able to reassure himself that everything was going to be okay.

 


	11. Torn Up By The Roots

Dan sighed contently as he clambered into bed sometime around 11 pm, smiling up at the ceiling. It had been such a stressful day- he was glad it was finally over. He stretched and began to lay down on his side. However, just as his head touched the pillow, his phone started buzzing with an incoming call. Groaning, Dan reached over and grabbed it, seeing that Phil was calling. Sitting up, he held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dan..." Phil sounded as though he hadn't slept in months, and Dan frowned as he listened to him. "I can't sleep again."

"Again? Phil, this is bad..." 

"I know, but what do I do?" Phil blurted. "I don't know what's wrong with me! I can't just go every single night not sleeping!"

"Phil, calm down. You're getting yourself worked up..."

Phil took a couple of audible breaths. "Okay... I'm good now..."

"You want me to talk to you until you fall asleep again?" Dan asked softly.

"Yeah, I think it'd help. I mean, it worked last time."

"Okay..." Dan lay down on his side, setting the phone on his pillow and putting it on speakerphone. "You want me to talk about anything in particular? Or do you just want me to sing you a lullaby  featuring reasons why I'm a fail?" 

Phil giggled quietly. "You're not a fail, silly..."

"I kinda am, though..." Dan said half-jokingly.

"No you're not. There's so many reasons why you're not a fail," Phil said.

Dan chuckled. "You're flattering me. Just admit it..."

"No you're not, Dan." Phil sighed. "Don't say stuff like that."

Dan groaned and bit his lip. "Fine... well, if you don't want me to talk about that, then what do you want me to tell you about?"

"You can just tell me about anything... it's not necessarily what you're saying that relaxes me, it's your voice in general..." Phil mumbled.

Dan felt himself blushing slightly at Phil's words. "My voice is relaxing?"

"Yeah..." Phil giggled a little bit. "I don't know what it is... just like your method of speaking, and how you pronounce certain words... it's just really calming..."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you think my voice is relaxing..." Dan said softly, thankful that Phil wouldn't be able to see him blushing profusely. "I guess I have one redeeming quality..."

"Daaan..." Phil whined. "You have plenty of redeeming qualities. Stop saying stuff like that."

"Alright, alright. Fine." Dan rested his head on his arms, keeping his face turned towards the phone resting on his pillow. "So I could basically say anything? I could be talking about freaking rainbow dinosaurs or something, and that would still relax you?"

Phil snorted. "Rainbow dinosaurs? Where did you come up with that?"

"I don't know, it was just a suggestion..." Dan laughed.

Phil giggled and yawned. "Well, I guess if you were to go on a rant about rainbow dinosaurs, that would work..."

Dan smiled. "You're weird..."

"Thanks?" Phil yawned again. 

"I guess my talking is working?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, I think it..." Phil's voice slowly trailed off and was replaced with a quiet snore. Dan snickered quietly and kept talking, even though he knew Phil couldn't hear him. "You fell asleep right when I was talking... how rude..." he said jokingly. A few minutes passed when neither of them spoke. Finally, Dan sighed and said, "I guess I should go to sleep now... there's not really any point in staying awake if you're sleeping..." He tugged the blankets over him, his finger hovering over the "end call" button. "Good night..." After a few moments, he quickly added, "I love you." He quickly ended the call and put the phone back on his bedside table, pushing the thought out of his mind as he drifted into sleep.

**~{}~**

The rest of the week seemingly went by in one big blur. Before Dan knew it, it was finally last period on Friday afternoon. The clock seemed to move slower than ever as Dan drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently, waiting for the 3 pm bell to ring and signal his release from this hellhole of a school. No matter what day of the week it was, last period Chemistry always seemed to drag by as slow as humanly possible. To make matters worse, Phil was in a different class than him, so he couldn't even talk to him to pass the time. Sighing, he glanced around the room, seeing that all the other students seemed just as bored as he was.

Just as Dan thought he was about to die of boredom, the bell finally pierced the dull silence of the classroom. A huge smile immediately working its way onto his face, he was one of the first people out of the classroom. He quickly made his way upstairs to where Phil's classroom was, arriving just in time to catch Phil walking out. Phil saw him and immediately greeted him with a huge smile. "Hi, Dan!"

"Finally, it's the end of the week! I thought it was never going to end..." Dan chuckled. 

"Me neither!" Phil smiled and spun around in a little circle. 

"Um, Phil, I was just wondering..." Dan lowered his voice a bit so that the other people passing by in the hall wouldn't hear them. "Have people still been bothering you?"

To his relief, Phil shook his head no. "No one's done anything to me for three whole days! I can't believe it..."

"That's awesome!" Dan grinned. "I told you everything was gonna be fine..." 

"Guess you were right..." Phil smiled. The two of them continued to talk as they made their way to the back door of the school. However, once Phil opened the door and walked out onto the lawn, his expression immediately changed to that of shock. And a split second later, the reason why was apparent to Dan. Scattered about on the grass were seemingly dozens of flowers that had been dug up by the roots, surrounding by clumps of dirt. Dan stared in shock and anger at the dug-up flowers. 

"What the heck..." Phil whispered, kneeling down and picking up one of the flowers with a trembling hand. The shorter boy fell silent, too upset to utter another word. Dan knelt down next to him, tentatively reaching forward and running a hand through his hair in what he hoped was a relaxing gesture. Phil let out a small sigh, pressing his head against Dan's hand like a cat rubbing against its owner. 

"Who the fuck would do something like this?" Dan asked, more to himself than Phil. Phil didn't respond, still turning the flower over and over in his fingers. Dan was slightly surprised that the shorter boy wasn't crying at this point. After a few seconds, Phil simply stood up and began picking the flowers off the ground. Dan got to his feet and started helping him, grabbing a bucket to put them in. They worked in silence, ignoring the staring and snickers from the football players passing by as they made their way to practice. Soon, all of the uprooted flowers had been collected and now sat in the bucket, seemingly mocking Dan. 

Phil slowly walked over to the brick wall of the school, sinking down into a sinking position as he leaned against it and covered his face with his hands. Dan trailed after him and sat next to him, pulling him into a one-armed hug. Other than making a small whimper, Phil didn't respond. Dan sighed and rested his cheek against the top of Phil's head. "Talk to me, Phil..."

"Why would they do something like this?" Phil whispered, his voice trembling with every word. "They know this is the only thing that makes me even tolerate this school... they know it's what matters most to me..."

"I don't know, Philly..." Dan placed his hand on top of Phil's, rubbing the pale skin with his thumb. To his shock, Phil turned his hand over and intertwined his fingers with Dan's. His face turning a bright shade of red, Dan bit his lip and chose not to say anything as he didn't want Phil to let go. He noticed that Phil was blushing slightly as well. He tentatively gave Phil's hand a small squeeze. Soon, Phil glanced up and Dan made eye contact with him, unable to look away from his eyes. They looked like beautiful blue pools of water, the sun reflecting off the unshed tears in them. Just as Dan was about to tell Phil about how absolutely breathtaking they looked, he stopped when he realized that the tears were falling from the blue eyes, slowly dripping down his face like wax from a candle. Without any hesitation, he pulled the crying boy into a hug, cradling him in his arms like he was a piece of valuable china and that he could shatter into pieces at any moment. 

"I hate this," Phil whined, his voice slightly muffled due to being pressed into Dan's shirt. "I can't deal with this anymore. I don't know what I ever did to them to make them want to bother me..."

"I know, I know..."

Phil sighed quietly. "I'm being a baby, I shouldn't be crying over this..."

"It's alright to cry, Phil. Take as long as you need... I'll be right here. I'm not going to leave you," Dan said quietly, running a hand through Phil's hair. "I'm never gonna leave you..." He was vaguely aware of what he was saying and knew that he should stop. What are you saying? He's gonna know how you feel about him if you keep saying that crap... But at the moment, the only thing he wanted to do was make Phil feel better, and at the moment this was the only method he could think of at the moment. 

A few minutes passed before Phil finally lifted his head, visible red tear marks on his face. He managed a small smile. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything, Phil..." 

"A while ago... I was half asleep, and you were still talking to me on the phone... and I heard you say that you loved me..."

"Oh..." Dan's stomach sank, his face turning as red as the tulip in Phil's hair. "Uh... I was joking about that, Phil, please don't take it the wrong way..."

"Dan, calm down... I figured you were joking, it's fine. I just wanted to say that..." Phil let out a quiet sigh before continuing. "...I would be thrilled if you actually meant it."


	12. More Than The World

"I would be thrilled if you actually meant it..." Phil whispered, his heart feeling as though it was going to beat out of his chest. He lowered his head, clenching his fists in an attempt to hide his shaking hands. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he slowly glanced up at Dan to see his reaction. Dan was simply staring at him, his mouth open slightly and his eyes wide. Phil felt his chest tightening and his throat became scratchy from a fresh bout of tears threatening to spill forth. "Oh god... you probably hate me now, don't you?"

"What?" Dan shook his head frantically. "No, Phil, I..."

"You don't have to lie to me." Phil slowly stood up, brushing the bits of grass and dirt off his jeans. "I know that you only like me as a friend..." He swung his bag onto his shoulder, keeping his eyes fixed on the dying grass. "I should probably go now..." Before Dan could utter a response, he turned and ran, dashing across the lawn and over the hill as tears blurred his vision and stung at his eyes. Ignoring the strange looks he was getting from a few people sitting atop the hill, he hurried past them, nearly stumbling and falling down more than a few times. His lungs were aching and his side was throbbing so badly it made him feel as though he was about to pass out, but Phil didn't stop until he reached his house. No one else in his family got home until late, which meant he had to fumble in his pocket for his keys and unlock the door, nearly dropping them onto the ground in the process. The instant he got inside, he sank down into a ball with his back pressed against the door, his entire body shaking with sobs. _What the hell have you done? Why would you even bring that up? Dan hates you now, and it's all your fault! And he probably hates you even more for running away from him..._

Phil was vaguely aware of his phone buzzing in his back pocket, but he didn't bother to look at it. Forcing himself to stand up, he walked over to the couch and curled up on it, but it was only slightly more comfortable than the floor. As a fresh bout of tears welled in his eyes, he heard someone knocking on the door. Sighing quietly, he stood up and walked over, slowly opening the door. His eyes widened when he saw that it was Dan, standing there with his hands in his pockets. With a small sigh, Phil kept his eyes lowered, fixing them on Dan's beat-up sneakers. "Hey, Dan..." he whispered, his voice trembling slightly. 

"Is it okay if I come in?" Dan asked quietly. 

"I guess so..." Phil mumbled.  _He's gonna yell at you... he's still angry with you..._  He stepped aside and walked over to the couch, sitting down and avoiding eye contact with Dan. Dan walked inside and closed the door before sitting down next to Phil, the beaten old couch sinking slightly under his weight. Phil bit his lip and managed to will himself to speak. "So... I'm assuming you're here to yell at me..."

"No, Phil. I'm not." Dan shook his head and reached towards Phil, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm here to apologize to you..."

"About what?" Phil asked. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you..." 

Dan sighed quietly and lifted Phil's head with his other hand, making eye contact with him. "Philly, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I should have told you earlier..."

"Dan, what are you talking about?" Phil sighed. "You're being confusing." 

"Phil, when I was on the phone with you and I said that I loved you... I actually meant it." 

Phil sighed and lowered his eyes. "You don't have to lie to me, Dan. I know you're trying to make me feel better..."

"I'm not making this up, Phil. I'm telling the truth." Dan rubbed the tears away from Phil's eyes. "I was too scared to tell you before because I was worried you'd reject me... but now that I know you feel the same way, I want to know that I really do love you. I love you more than anything else in the world, Phil..." 

"Oh my god..." Phil whispered, his heart thudding in his chest so hard it almost physically hurt. "You really mean it?"

"I couldn't make this up if I tried, Phil..." 

Happy tears welling in his eyes, Phil pulled Dan into a tight hug, nuzzling his face into his shoulder. "I can't believe it... y-you actually like me back?"

Dan returned the embrace with a huge smile. "Of course I do, Phil... I have for so long..." 

Sniffing a bit, Phil pulled back a bit and looked up at Dan, gazing at him. The two made eye contact, which caused Phil to blush the slightest bit. He stayed stock-still as Dan's gaze flickered from his eyes down to his lips and back up again. Phil bit his lip, looking away shyly. "What are you doing?" 

"Oh..." Dan stayed quiet for a few seconds. "I... I was going to kiss you... but if you don't want to, that's fine..."

"No, it's fine. You can do it, it's just..." Phil sighed quietly. "I've never done it before. What if I mess it up or something?"

"It's fine, Phil." Dan smiled and ruffled his hair. "Just because it's your first kiss doesn't mean it has to be perfect."

Phil managed a tiny smile in return. "I guess you're right. But I'm still nervous about it..." 

"Don't worry about it. Just follow what I do, okay?" Dan said.

"Alright..." Phil nodded slowly.

Cupping Phil's face in his hands, Dan leaned forward until their lips were just barely brushing together. The simple action caused Phil's heart to pound so fast he thought it was going to beat out of his chest, but he managed to close his eyes and kiss back, wrapping his arms around Dan's neck and pulling him closer. The kiss was short and gentle, but it somehow made it all the better. When the two eventually pulled away, both of them were blushing profusely. After a few moments of silence, Dan tapped Phil's nose with his finger, resulting in an embarrassed giggle. "Silly..."

"You're the silly one, you spork," Dan chuckled, ruffling Phil's hair. Phil smiled and nuzzled his face into Dan's shoulder, still beaming. Dan giggled and patted his head. "What is it?"

"So, uh... a-are we dating now, or something?" Phil asked.

Dan nodded. "Yeah... I guess we are." He planted a kiss on top of Phil's head with a smile.

Blushing a bit, Phil looked up at Dan. "Is it too early to tell you that I love you?"

"Not at all... in fact, it's the perfect time for me to tell you that I love you too."


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT A/N: I have made several edits to this book. Please go back and read the previous chapters before reading this one. This is also the final chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it, even if it seems a bit rushed.

** Two Months Later **

"Phil, just tell me what's wrong..." Dan sighed, glancing over towards Phil, sitting across from him on the roof. "You've just seemed... off lately."

"It... it's hard to explain." Phil bit his lip, tugging his sleeves over his hands as he looked across towards the setting sun. "And you're probably gonna get upset..."

"I could never get upset at you, Phil..." Dan smiled and gently took Phil's hand in his own. "You can tell me anything..." 

"You really, really don't want to hear this..." Phil mumbled, leaning against Dan's shoulder and pushing his glasses up his nose with two fingers.

"Why not? Did something bad happen?" Dan asked gently.

Phil shook his head. "No, it's going to happen... pretty soon, actually, in like two weeks..."

"Phil, you're worrying me..." Frowning, Dan gently kissed the top of Phil's head. "Please, please tell me, Philly... I promise I won't get mad, no matter what you tell me..."

"Okay, fine..." Phil sighed and lowered his head, hiding his face in his free hand. "Dan, I'm moving..."

"What?" Dan could feel his stomach sink and his throat closing as he stared at Phil in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

"We're moving... we're leaving and going to Manchester." Phil mumbled. "I didn't want to, it was all my parents' choice, I'm sorry..."

"But... but why?" Dan whispered, tears beginning to spill from his eyes. "I don't want you to leave, Phil..."

"I don't want to leave either, Dan..." Phil lifted his head, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. "I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it..."

Dan shook his head in a futile attempt to clear the tears from his eyes, breathing heavily as he tried and failed to calm himself down. This couldn't be happening- Phil couldn't leave, he  _needed_  him. He couldn't bear the thought of being without him; just the thought of trying to go through life without the joyful, optimistic, absolutely beautiful boy with him made him feel even worse. "N-no, there's got to be something we can do... we c-can talk to them together, you have to s-stay..."

"Dan, there's nothing I can do, I'm sorry!" Phil let out a trembling sob, covering his mouth with his hand and lowering his head again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I tried, and I meant to tell you earlier..."

Dan pulled Phil into his arms and squeezed him tight, cutting off his words as he began crying against his shoulder. "Please, d-don't do this to me! I love you s-so much, I don't want you to go..." He cut himself off with a shaky gasp as he tried to catch his breath, failing to calm down as he kept sobbing uncontrollably. "You're everything I have, Phil! Please, d-don't..." He could hear Phil crying too and felt a rush of guilt, knowing that he was only upsetting Phil more by doing this, but he couldn't stop. Phil was leaving him, beautiful amazing Phil was leaving him, and he was powerless to keep if from happening. He had never felt so much hopelessness at once- it seemed as though the sky had fallen and was slowly crushing him, squeezing every ounce of happiness he had ever felt out of him, in the most slow and painful way possible.

Finally, Phil said, "I'm sorry, Dan... I mean, I know it won't be the same, but we can still call each other and Skype and stuff..." He paused to let out a shaky sigh. "And I can still come visit you occasionally... it's not like we're not gonna be able to stay in touch..."

"It's not gonna be the same..." Dan shook his head. "P-please, there has to be something..." At a loss for words, he fell silent again, shaking slightly in Phil's arms from a combination of the overwhelming sadness still in his system and the chilly October wind. After a seemingly endless stretch of silence, Dan spoke again, his voice shaking. "I love you so much... it's not gonna be the same if we can't be as close... I'm so worried I'm gonna lose you, Philly, I'm worried you're gonna forget about me and not care about me anymore..."

"Oh, Dan, you're not gonna lose me... I could never forget about you..." Phil gently lifted Dan's head up and looked into his eyes, running his fingers through his messy curls. "Don't say stuff like that... I could  _never_  not care about you. You don't know how amazing you are..."

Dan shook his head and hid his face again, still crying and unable to focus on what Phil was saying. After seemingly hours, his tears subsided, leaving him feeling completely hollow and empty. Absolutely nothing could comfort him in this moment, or possibly ever again.

**~{}~**

Dan refused to leave Phil's side for the next week. Their time spent together consisted of solely crying and murmuring rushed "I love you"'s to each other, both of them not knowing how to go on once their limited time together was over.

And then the dreaded day came. Dan showed up at Phil's house just as his parents had finished packing up the moving van and had tackled him in his tightest hug yet, kissing him over and over and begging him not to go in between heavy sobs that made his chest hurt. They'd stood in the driveway for over an hour until Phil couldn't stay any longer. Dan had ran after the moving van all the way down the block, until it was too fast and his tired and shaky legs couldn't keep up any longer. He dropped to his knees and stared at the van as it drove away, feeling absolutely nothing. Phil was gone, and there was nothing he could do.

**~{}~**

With a soft gasp, Dan's eyes popped open, his hands gripping the blanket underneath him as he stared up at the ceiling. His heart pounding in his chest, he looked around the room he was in, which seemed strangely  familiar to him. The dim moonlight was shining through the partially open curtains, illuminating the bedroom in a faint white light.  _That was one hell of a dream... was it a dream?_  His eyes quickly darted towards the figure sleeping on the left side of the bed. He let out an audible sigh of relief when he saw that it was Phil, who was hugging his pillow and had his face partially hidden in it. Dan quickly moved towards Phil and managed to pull him into a tight hug despite the pillow partially obstructing his reach.

"Dan? W-what are you doing?" Phil let out a tiny yawn, still half asleep as he pushed the pillow out of the way.

"You're still here..." Dan mumbled, hiding his face in Phil's chest. "I thought I lost you..."

"What do you mean? Did you have a nightmare or something?" Phil asked gently.

"I don't know, I don't know what it was at all..." Dan sniffed. "What year is it?"

"What do you mean, what year is it?"

"I don't know, just tell me... what's happening? What's happening with us, like... what are we? I don't know-" Dan sighed.

"Well, let me think... we're both YouTubers," Phil began. "We've been dating for seven years... and I asked you to marry me yesterday..."

"I remember..." Dan smiled, the memory rushing back to him in a happy burst. He squeezed Phil tighter than before, letting out a tiny laugh. "I remember now... you're still here..."

"I'm still here, Dan..." Phil smiled, hugging Dan tightly as the brunette buried his head in his shoulder. "I'm always gonna be here..." 

"You promise?" Dan asked quietly.

"I promise."


End file.
